Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Brisbane International yesterday, while world No. 1 Angelique Kerber crashed out of the quarter-finals of the singles.
Former doubles world No. 1 Hsieh and Laura Siegemund rallied from a set down to oust fourth seeds Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Maria Jose Matinez Sanchez of Spain 6-7 (7/9), 6-2, 10-2 in 1 hour, 49 minutes.
The Taiwanese-German duo saved three of seven break points and converted six of eight, winning 81 of the 139 points contested to advance to a semi-final against top seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Hsieh’s former partner Sania Mirza of India.
Photo: EPA
In the singles, the tournament lost its top two women’s seeds when Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova were both bundled out in the quarter-finals.
World No. 1 Kerber made 48 unforced errors, including five double faults, as she went down to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Frenchwoman Alize Cornet eliminated Cibulkova 6-3, 7-5.
Kerber said she was not worried about how the early loss would affect the defense of her Australian Open crown.
“I think Grand Slams are always completely different,” Kerber said. “It doesn’t matter how you play before. Of course, it’s always good to have matches, especially at the beginning of the year. I have had two good matches here. I will try to have a few more matches before Melbourne [at the Sydney International next week].”
Svitolina next takes on third seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who came back from losing the first set to Italian Roberta Vinci to win her quarter-final 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
In the first match on Pat Rafter Arena, Cornet was in irresistible form as she blunted everything Cibulkova threw at her to win a tight struggle in 2 hours, 3 minutes.
A more settled and mature Cornet said there was no reason why she could not get back into the world top 20.
“I’ve always had a lack of consistency during my career and maybe the fact that I’m 26, I’m a little bit older now, I have more experience and I feel like maybe I’m touching something during this week of Brisbane,” Cornet said.
She next faces Garbine Muguruza, who edged Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-4.
In the second round of the men’s singles there were victories for top seed Milos Raonic of Canada, fourth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, fifth seed Rafael Nadal of Spain and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
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